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Over four days of harrowing testimony at Aoife Johnston’s inquest, the most wrenching described her final hours on a trolley at University Hospital Limerick’s (UHL) teeming “death-trap” emergency department as her life ebbed away before her parents’ eyes. She did not go gentle into that good night.
A consultant microbiologist requested an urgent investigation immediately after he realised Aoife Johnston (16) had waited 15 hours and 15 minutes for critical antibiotic treatment at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). He said the treatment would probably have saved her life if it was administered sooner.
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16-year-old girl ‘had no chance’ when she presented at the hospital due to overcrowded and ‘dangerous’ conditions, says emergency medicine consultant
An emergency consultant who declined to attend University Hospital Limerick (UHL), despite a request from a nurse manager concerned about a spiralling overcrowding crisis, told the inquest into the death of Clare teen Aoife Johnston (16) that overcrowding had left the emergency department resembling "a death trap" that weekend.
Coroner John McNamara said 'clearly the bottom line is Aoife should have been seen and treated that is without doubt'